Tweedie family name......

kgt | 23:18 Wed 31st Jan 2007 | Family & Relationships

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My surname is Tweedie - can anyone give me the history of the name and any famous relatives? We are originally from the Scottish Borders and I would like any information. Especially from any other Tweedies!
Thank you.

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dot.hawkes

Tweedie - From the lands of Tweedie in the parish of Stonehouse, Lanarkshire, but it is also a very old name in Peebleshire. The Tweedies had the reputation of being a savage race and were always ready to misuse their strength to dominate their neighbours.

There is a wonderful legend about the origin of the Tweedies. A knight of Tweeddale in the 12th century, after fighting for many years in the Holy Land crusades, finally returned to Scotland to find his lady love with a boy playing at her feet. When the knight asked, "Where did he come from?" his wife was quick to respond, "From the Tweed. His father is the spirit of the Tweed himself."

At the beginning of the 14th century the lands of Drumelzier passed to the Tweedies through marriage with a daughter of Sir William Fraser of Drumelzier. By the 1500s they were at the height of their power and were constantly at odds with rival clans. In 1559 James Tweedie of Drumelzier, John Tweedie of Fruid and his brothers William, Patrick and John, along with Thomas Tweedie, were accused of the �cruel slaughter of William Geddes, son and apperand air [sic] to Charles Geddes of Cuthilhall� but got off with fines and warnings from the Privy Council. William Tweedie of Drumelzier and Adam Tweedie of Dreva were among those charged in the brutal murder in 1565 of David Rizzio, personal secretary to Mary, Queen of Scots, but both escaped punishment. Adam Tweedie of Dreva attacked Robert Rammage, slicing off his ears but, when taken before the Court of Judiciary in January 1566, was absolved. In 1592 James Tweedie and his friends murdered James Geddes in the Cowgate in Edinburgh. Pennecuik in 1715 described the Tweedies of Drumelzier as �a powerful and domineering family now quite extinct�.